Marked “Lindner Kueps Bavaria”
Marked with a beehive indicating “Royal Vienna”
The history of Royal Vienna Porcelain:
Two workers from the Meissen factory in Germany took the “recipe” for Chinese hard paste porcelain with them when they headed for Vienna in the early 1700s. This sneaky duo shared the porcelain secret with Claude Innocentius Du Paquier and he began utilizing it in 1717 to make porcelain comparable to that of his German neighbors.
By 1744, Paquier ran into financial trouble and sold his porcelain manufacturing business to the royal family in Austria. Paquier’s early wares were unmarked, but when the Royal family took over, they began marking the porcelain with the shield mark, now known as the beehive mark mentioned earlier. The Imperial and Royal Porcelain Manufactory of Vienna became the most important porcelain manufacturer in the area and continued to make fine hand-decorated porcelain wares until 1864.
Marked “Dresden”
Dresden porcelain is often described as Rococco revival style.
Rococco comes from the French word rocaille meaning rock work or grotto work, and refers to artificial grottoes used in French gardens and decorated with irregularly shaped stones and seashells.
Popular during the renaissance, rococo experienced a revival during the 19th century, and influenced almost every aspect of interior design.
Dresden decorators were the first and most successful to employ the style on dinnerware decorated with elaborate and fanciful designs using a profusion of foliage, flowers, fruits, shells and scrolls.
Between 1855 and 1944, Dresden housed over 200 painting shops; but the dresden style is always associated with wares bearing the blue crown mark first registered by Richard Klemm, Donath & Co., Oswald Lorenz, and Adolph Hamann in 1883 and the type of wares they produced.
The style they employed used a mixture of Meissen and Vienna flower and figure painting.
Later, other decorators employed the Crown and Dresden mark, and names like Franziska Hirsch, Ambrosius Lamm, Carl Thieme and Helena Wolfsohn became associated with dresden porcelain.
The Original Four Dresden Companies where :
Karl Richard Klemm, located in Striesen and founded in 1869. The Klemm Dresden crown was registrered in the RWZR under number 24.
Donath & Co, located in the Wachsbleichstrasse 25 and founded in 1872. The Donath Dresden crown was registered in the RWZR under number 25.
Oswald Lorenz, located in Dresden as a commission agent. The Lorenz Dresden crown was registered in the RWZR under number 26.
Adolf Hamman, located in the Serrestrasse 8 and founded in 1866. The Hamman Dresden crown was registered in the RWZR under number 27
All the above studios were decorating porcelain in the meissen or vienna style; and marking their pieces with the sam dresden crown mark. The dresden collector will find it quite impossible to identify the exact origin of wares produced at this time.
After a few years though, each of these studios did register their own specific marks at the RWZR and it became easier to identify indivual studios.
Marked “Union T Czechoslovakia”
Porcelain Union, United Porcelain Factory AG, Meretitz, Czechia (Miretice, Bohemia, Austria) – 1921 Porcelain Union, United Porcelain Factory AG was formed in the village of Meretitz outside of Klasterec (Klosterle). The Anglo Czechoslovakia bank merged several factories to form the new business with offices in Klášterec. These factories were: Gottfired and Vielgut, W Tuma & O Vielgut Porcelain Factory, and the Julius Neuman factory was also a part of the business. One of the Marks used by these factories was a wreath with the word Union and the alpha character “K,” for Klášterec or Klosterle. (Note: Henderson and Rontgen have different descriptions for these factories. The above information is according to Decorated Bohemian Porcelain, Henderson.)
Additionally in 1921 the Alexandra Porcelain Works Ernst Wahliss factory in Trnovany (Turn-Teplitz, Bohemia, Austria) was merged into the new business. One of the Marks used by this factories was a wreath with the word Union and the alpha character “T,” for Turn-Teplitz or Trnovany.
1927 Porcelain Union, United Porcelain Factory AG joined the EPIAG association. All plants closed in 1939.
Stamped “CA France H.G. Stephenson Ltd. Manchester”
In 1860 Henry George Stephenson moved from the North East to Manchester, where he sold pottery from a rented stall at Salford Flat Iron Market. After eight years, H.G. Stephenson moved into the newly built Barton Arcade on Deansgate, Manchester. At this time the business focused on the retail market selling famous brands such as Royal Doulton and Wedgwood. Further retail shops were opened in Manchester in Piccadilly, St Anne’s Square, Cross Street and Lytham St. Annes.
As the business grew ever more successful H.G. Stephenson launched into new sectors including hospitals, breweries and hotels. The company registered with Companies House in 1900 and thrived up until the World War One which brought recession and severely limited supplies. H.G. Stephenson died in 1918 and supplies remained scarce after the war, then later the recession of the 1930s forced the closure of all but the Barton Arcade shops.
Third generation Harold Stephenson, joined the company in 1932, however at the start of the Second World War, entered the army and fought in Burma. Later in 1943 a bomb raid destroyed Barton Arcade forcing the business to close for the remainder of the war. The Barton Arcade store reopened in 1945 and business resumed.
Michael Stephenson joined the business in 1963 and developed a full product range for the catering industry. In 1968 Michael moved the business from Barton Arcade to its current premises at Kennerley Works, Stockport.
In 2005 Henry Stephenson joined the business as Marketing Director and later became Managing Director in 2010.
Stamped “Rosenthal Selb Bavaria” 1920’s
Marked “English Coalport”
Marked “Lindner Kueps Bavaria”
In the year 1887 Ludwig Lindner founded the first porcelain factory in the town of Mitterteich. The facility was later torn down during a modernization process and a new factory hall was built at the same location and dubbed ‘Werk A’; the name stuck until the factory closed in 2006.
Stamped England Coalport
Stamped “Rosenthal Selb German Pompadour” 1939-1956
